A's fan group demands tarp removal

upper deck

Updated 12:03 am, Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

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There are many sections of the O.Co Coliseum closed to fans, including this spot overlooking the field shown during the Oakland A's game against the Blue Jays in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, May 9, 2012.

There are many sections of the O.Co Coliseum closed to fans, including this spot overlooking the field shown during the Oakland A's game against the Blue Jays in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, May 9, 2012.

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

A's fan group demands tarp removal

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A grass-roots group looking to keep the A's in Oakland delivered a letter to team ownership Tuesday demanding the club remove the upper-deck tarps for Wednesday's Game 4 of the American League Division Series. The team said it could not oblige, due to a lack of ticket demand and logistical concerns.

The group, which calls itself Let's Go Oakland, said 10,102 A's fans are "being denied the right to attend the ALDS because there are no more seats available."

A's ownership was perplexed by the claim.

"Playoff strips have been on sale since the end of August," A's owner Lew Wolff said. "People have had more than a month to purchase seats. If there was the level of fan interest to take off the tarps, it would have been evident, but we did not sell out Game 4 until" Monday.

Doug Boxer of Let's Go Oakland said he can provide the A's e-mail addresses of the 10,000 fans who cannot get tickets, and, he suggested, "They can just take the tarps off as demand requires."

According to director of stadium operations David Rinetti, it takes two days to arrange for a specialized crew to remove the tarps and for them to carry out the work. When games sell out only a day or two before - and an event is taking place in the interim - there's no way to get the tarps off. Because the specialized crew is required, the team is not likely to do an "as needed" section-by-section removal.

The A's have said they will remove the tarps - which, not counting the "Mt. Davis" seats in center field, cover about 9,000 seats according to Rinetti - for the World Series. They are considering doing so for the American League Championship Series, Wolff said, should ticket sales justify it. But as of Wednesday, there were 38,000 tickets remaining.

The team says the tarps are in place because, without them, the Coliseum looks "desolate," Wolff said. He added that the tarps make the building seem more intimate and provides a better experience for the fans.

"I've talked to a lot of people in professional sports who don't know why they would turn away paying customers, and who would scream and yell and help the team," said Boxer, a former Oakland planning commissioner and the son of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. "I don't see the sense in not wanting what's best for the team and in not creating revenue. This team has caught a lot of people's attention the last month."

Boxer said that the current ownership group, in its quest to move the A's from Oakland to San Jose, has done a great deal to discourage the fan base, but, he said, "The fans do care, whatever the owners do."

While playing for a playoff spot and the division title, A's did not sell out any games on their final homestand until the season finale.

Boxer said he attended six A's games during the season, and he confirmed that he is also working with a group trying to help the Warriors move from Oakland to San Francisco.

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